Aircraft vehicles that carry passengers and/or appreciable amounts of cargo are presently operated by an onboard human flight crew. In fact, most flight situations involve at least a pilot and co-pilot onboard the aircraft operating from the cockpit area. Such manned flight is still subject to human error despite the high levels of costly training and skill that these flight control personnel typically possess.
A number of present automation systems exist to provide advisory information, automate certain tasks, and generally relieve the flight crew of some burdens. Examples of such systems include ground collision warning systems, stall warning systems, air traffic advisory and avoidance systems, and automated flight management and instrument landing systems. Additionally, other automated systems have been developed and demonstrated that go beyond simple pilot advisement. These include autopilot and auto-throttle systems, including area navigation and vertical navigation capabilities). Enhanced stall protection, auto-land and auto-braking are other examples. Still another example is an experimental ground collision avoidance system developed under a NASA research and development contract, wherein control of an aircraft is taken over to avoid controlled flight into terrain.
Automated systems such as those exemplified above, as well as other complexities of modern aircraft, compound the ongoing training requirements of flight crew personnel. The foregoing exemplary systems are directed to workload reduction only, so flight crew personnel must be trained in the operation of such aircraft with the automated systems turned off. Additionally, medical qualifications, age, and/or other concerns contribute to the cost of maintaining an adequate pool of qualified flight operations talent. Known flight crew advisement and control systems are insufficient in view of desired levels of flight safety and automation. Therefore, novel systems and methods that resolve the foregoing problems and concerns would have great utility.